Talkin’ Turkey

By Kevin Eckert

November 24, 2009 Speedway, Indiana: Time to give thanks. As we shovel turkey and giblets down our collective gullet while glancing at televised football, think about how White Man thanked Red Man for teaching him to plant corn. As soon as the first dishes were cleared, systematic genocide was served for dessert. Tell me again why America has no reason to apologize?

Thanksgiving auto racing means the Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix. Well, it used to. But as much as J.C Agajanian’s children wish to believe otherwise, Turkey Night on asphalt means virtually nothing. Irwindale is an exceptional oval, but USAC pavement has long been a closed club to all but a handful of rich kids.

The last big blast of U.S clay may have been last weekend’s Western World Championship in Tucson, Arizona. Western World racing has seen almost as many changes as the western world itself. First conceived by Keith Hall as an end of 1968 gathering, the Western went from wingless to wings to wingless to wings to wingless and now, winged 360 sprint cars.

This year’s unexpected closing of the Manzanita Speedway on which the Western was conducted for 30 seasons set off a momentary power play. Feisty new promoter Kevin Montgomery was quick to announce how the Western World would go off on his USA Raceway in Tucson, which did not please USAC, sanctioning body on the last five Westerns in Phoenix. They had been in negotiations for a Manzanita replacement that ultimately became Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway. For a few weeks, Tucson and Tulare seemed on a collision course. Fortunately, an amicable solution was devised when Emmett Hahn extended an ASCS national title fight (originally slated to close in Little Rock) one week after Thunderbowl hosted its first national USAC event.

Montgomery drew top talent to the desert by matching Little Rock’s Short Track Nationals with a winning sum of $15,000: highest gross possible on the 360 “chitlin” circuit. The only other five-figure paydays available in the division are Knoxville, Skagit, Gray’s Harbor ($10,092 to honor Fred Brownfield), Trophy Cup (12k) and East Bay, which paid $13,000 to its Kings of 360s.

Regard point funds of course, Lucas Oil made ASCS second to none. Sunday’s banquet at the Old Tucson Studios dispensed $250,000 to the Top 15 in national ASCS points: Shane Stewart (60k), Jason Johnson (30k), Gary Wright (25k), Travis Rilat (22k), Paul McMahan (18k), Tim Crawley (16k), Danny Wood (14k), Tony Bruce (12k), Jack Dover (11k), Jesse Hockett (10k), Sean McClelland ($8500), Kenneth Walker (7k), Darren Long (6k), Chad Corken ($5500) and Gary Taylor, who relied on three different car owners to reach $5000 for 15th in point standings.

I raise a glass of Thanksgiving wine to celebrate Shane Stewart and his car owner/crew chief Paul “Pockets” Silva. After their amazing orange Doyle Harley-Davidson team dissolved after 2008, Stewart and Silva were uncertain if they could even attempt an ASCS championship. Paul’s wife Lori is a daughter to Ed Organ, a 1980 Santa Maria CRA winner who added four more with wings at Baylands Raceway Park.

Danny Lasoski took a 360 to Tucson that was no longer circling by Saturday’s final. Though he made 16 starts in 2008 with a 360, Danny’s return to the World of Outlaws made Tucson his first 360 start of the season. Likewise, Lucas Wolfe had been unavailable until Tucson, which was Wolfe’s first 360 start since 2007.

Sammy Swindell, sporting a gash over his eye from a Ricky Stenhouse supporter’s blindside punch in West Memphis, won his third Western World trophy in Tucson. Sammy’s first Western win in 1980 highlighted his second month in Nance Speed Equipment from Wichita, Kansas. His second Western win in 1989 was postponed by rain from Saturday night to a Sunday afternoon when his Harrold Annett Challenger proved vastly superior.

Steve Kinser’s only chance to defeat Swindell that day in ’89 would have been in traffic. Unfortunately for Johnny Herrera, he occupied one of the first cars lapped. Sammy passed without incident but Steve was so eager to keep pace that he forced a dive into turn three that planted Herrera head first in the concrete.

Herrera was one of 14 drivers in two classes at Tucson, where he had won four of eight before Western. Others who went with and without wings in Tucson were Brady Bacon, Ronnie Clark, Jerry Coons, Tim Crawley, Charles Davis, Don Grable, Jesse Hockett, Joshua Hodges, Dustin Morgan, Tom Ogle, Andy Reinbold, Travis Rilat and Rick Ziehl, who secured the ASCS Southwest crown despite missing the final ASCS National A-main.

Bacon has to be sorry to see the season end after a $7000 winged victory in Fort Worth, Texas followed by Tucson’s top wingless prize of $5000. Such momentum should keep Brady in the desert one more week for Canyon.

The brothers McMahan of greater Sacramento were both among Tucson’s 22 legitimate (non-provisional) A-main starters from a field of 81. Prior to the Western World, Bobby and Paul McMahan had been in the same pit only three times this year: Dave Bradway Memorial, Gold Cup and Trophy Cup. Bob’s renaissance season for car owner Steve Harris and crew chief Brian Sperry made them champions of the Silver Dollar Speedway.

Portland, Oregon’s Zach Zimmerly, a 15-year old Civil War winner at Petaluma, followed second-place in the first Sherm Toller Open at Marysville with a road trip through Chowchilla, Charlotte, Fort Worth and Tucson tuned by renowned Sacramento socket-spinners Duke and Scotty McMillen.

Sacramento’s Scott Miller and Shannon Wheatley of Washington were two former Steve Beitler mechanics in Tucson. “Sean the Shark” Becker drove the car owned and maintained by Miller, while “Rooster” Wheatley has a Wolf Weld for his son Austen.

Mike Leslie, a four-time AMRA midget winner with Kevin Montgomery, made his first start of 2009 at his car owner’s Western World Championship. Leslie ran seven Chili Bowls in eight years.

Tucson had a hometown Huebner in the house. Jeremy’s uncle John defeated RMMRA midgets at Albuquerque in 1985, father Jeff won AMRA midget meets at Manzanita and Tucson in ‘89-90, and his grandfather Bob Huebner won the second Western in 1969.

Prior to this year, Tucson’s role in Western World proceedings were three afternoon events on the Corona Speedway that became Raven Raceway and then Tucson Raceway Park. Ohio’s Rick Ferkel won the first two (1980-81) before Ron Kreppel scored one for the locals.

The common thread on those three Tucson wins was Stewart Fabrication of Phoenix, where all three winning sprint cars originated. The other consistent component was the rock-hard tire used by Ferkel for two years before he shipped it to Rick Stewart. After it enabled the unheralded Kreppel to conquer three Hall of Fame names of Keith Kauffman, Jack Hewitt and Gary Patterson, the magic slick went flat in victory lane.

The first Western World Championship in Tucson was a week too late for Rick Stewart, who died of colon cancer. Rick was a great friend to Phoenix auto racing, always quick with a joke no matter what life threw at him. He saw hip surgery as no reason to miss Chili Bowl, using a scooter to patrol the expo building. The 1990 Chili Bowl winner of John Heydenreich was built by Stewart Fabrication. One of Rick’s early students was Dan Drinan, who came to be regarded as one of racing’s best welders. It is sadly ironic that Stewart should leave in the same season as Manzanita.

Saturday’s victory in Ventura’s J.W Mitchell Classic bolstered Brad Kuhn’s campaign to be National Midget Driver of the Year. Kuhn has earned eight midget wins in 2009 over national USAC (Bloomington), regional USAC (Ventura), POWRi (DuQuoin, Jacksonville and Junction), BMARA (Sun Prairie), BCRA (Placerville) and his Chili Bowl preliminary.

Arizona’s Chad Boat scored second in Tulare sprints and Ventura midgets on successive Saturday nights despite having never raced in either arena. His father Billy had reason to smile at the prospect of returning to Ventura Raceway, where Boat toted 12 wins in 24 starts including Turkey Night ‘97.

Brad Loyet’s 18 wins in 2009 is the highest midget mark since Billy Boat bagged 21 in 1995. Before the Boat outburst, Kevin Doty won 16 midget main events in ’94; Ron “Sleepy” Tripp took 19 U.S midget wins in consecutive seasons of 1987-88; Nick “Nokie” Fornoro Jr. won 22 times in 1985; and Rich Vogler was victorious 22 times in ’85 before reaching 23 midget wins in 1988.

Chico, California’s Ryan Kaplan, losing three months of racing after a devastating Indiana Sprint Week spill at Kokomo, was back in the saddle on Las Vegas asphalt and Ventura clay, crossing third on Saturday’s natural turf.

Pismo Beach, California’s Mike Gehringer, a USRC winner at Bakersfield (‘76) and Vegas in 1978, ran the J.W Mitchell Classic at Ventura on Saturday night. Out sight for 17 seasons until the NWWT opened this year, Gehringer gathered seventh in the first Belleville Nationals of 1978.

Did you know that a driver died at that first Belleville Midget Nationals? He was Lowell Voss from Fountain Valley, California.

Cincinnati, Ohio’s Ronnie Wuerdeman, winning two of three Gas City Focus features in 2009, raced a Wally Pankratz midget in the USAC Ford Focus class Saturday at Ventura, where the cast included Washington visitors Gaylon Stewart and Seth Hespe.

Big News from Big Companies in suburban Indianapolis is that car owners Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne will not seek USAC championships in either sprint or midgets in 2010. In the immediate future, USAC just lost four cars. But in the long run, they can stop tweaking rules and schedules to favor the elite. Let us hope it is not too late. As for their World of Outlaw pursuits, Stewart released Kraig Kinser just after Kahne hired Cody Darrah.

NASCAR may be a festering boil on the backside of American motor sports. As a product of eastern modified racing however, it was cool that so many people learned the name “Reutimann” in 2009. Could anyone have raced more often in the 1970s than Buzzie or Wayne Reutimann? Stationed on a farm just inside of New Jersey, the brothers from Florida raced three nights a week from April through September, countless Tuesdays and Wednesdays, holiday 100-lappers and winter Saturdays on the Golden Gate pavement. When URC sprints joined the Orange County bill, Wayne and Buzzie finished first and second in 1976, the same year Buzz scored sixth against ARDC midgets.

NASCAR’s shadow on the Arizona USAC landscape is not likely to keep Copper World as a November satellite show for the Phoenix mile. Copper on Dirt is likely to land in Tucson near the February USAC date in Las Vegas.

Copper World 2009 included a third RW champ car for Queensland’s Todd Wanless, who has to be the first Australian to ever enter USAC Silver Crown competition.

Dave Darland, using two RW 410 Maxims in Perris and Tulare followed by two 360 units in Tucson, recently reached the 200-win plateau at Winchester according to my database. That total (197 U.S plus three New Zealand midget wins) is a verified minimum because some may have fallen through the cracks of Indiana’s vast publicity machine.

Indiana’s Joey Saldana, Minnesota’s Craig Dollansky and California’s Jonathan Allard are all expected performers Saturday in Auckland, New Zealand. After falling just short of the ASCS crown, Louisiana’s Jason Johnson is slated for Saturday at Toowoomba aboard the Haynes Maxim in which Matthew Reed ran tenth at Brisbane last week.

Australia’s Warren Beard, displaced by Brooke Tatnell’s Titan foreclosure this summer, ended the USAC season in the Perris victory lane alongside Damion Gardner, who then fired Davey Jones for catching him on fire twice in two months.

Brisbane’s Brett Ingliss (better known as “Glenno”) left Titan and Daryn Pittman after four years to return to his homeland, where he helped Andrew Schuerele to sixth-place in Saturday’s World Series opener topped by Tatnell.

Melbourne, Victoria’s Brett Milburn, who made a two-week tour of Knoxville, Quincy, Arcade, Ohsweken and Port Royal this summer, won Saturday on South Australia’s Borderline Speedway.

“Flying Dutchman” Mike Van Bremen was second to Milburn Saturday on Mount Gambier. Following his eighth-place finish to my only Grand Annual Classic experience in 2002, Michael proposed on the Premier frontstretch. Natalie said, “Yes!” and seven years later, they are still married.

Australia’s Northern Territory produced its first Parramatta City winner on Saturday when Ben Atkinson achieved Sydney success. Geographically speaking, Atkinson’s accomplishment is the U.S equivalent of a kid from North Dakota winning at Williams Grove.

“Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?” is a book that made me laugh out loud at least ten times. Of a failed psychological experiment in college, she wrote, “I ruined a perfectly good rat.” Ivins described the homeless folks along a presidential inauguration route as “favoring a layered look.” I’ve long maintained that a sarcastic sense of humor/irony is our best defense against the random hypocrisy and treachery of politics/life. But rarely have I seen sarcasm wielded like Molly Ivins, who died of breast cancer in 2007.

Molly described the JFK shooting as a Great Shame of the Great State of Texas. Anyone with a television remote will notice an abundance of assassination specials around Thanksgiving, which was ruined in ’63 when Dallas riflemen silenced John F. Kennedy. The question of “Who dunnit?” will remain as eternal as the flame on his grave. But of all the theories, can anyone dispute the mess that Dallas made after the shooting? We can start with how its police force allowed the alleged killer to die in its basement.

I will leave you with a happier Thanksgiving memory of munching turkey and taters in the Manzanita grandstand in 1991. By that point, the Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix had survived 56 years, four tracks and one World War. But when Ascot Park closed in 1990 and Agajanian Enterprises moved Turkey Night to Saugus pavement, Keith Hall held one in Phoenix for the dirt folks. It looked good on paper. But even at half of the traditional distance, only a handful of Manzanita midgets completed 50 laps. Jumping in the Dave Ellis house car that night was Jac Haudenschild, who humbled everyone.

I’m still checking the mailbox for cash flow at 4929 West 14th Street, Speedway, IN, 46224. Voice mail an alibi to (317) 607.7841 or e-mail excuses to Kevin@openwheeltimes.com.

Ok